Chapter 92: The Perfect Match? (1)

"Do you realize that doesn’t make any sense at all, Mr. Devereaux?" Summer asked, looking utterly confused. At this point, she wasn’t even sure if the man was sober or drunk.

"How can you allow me to stream from this place when even most Elites aren’t allowed to enter this sector?" She narrowed her eyes at him, clearly suspicious.

No matter how she looked at it, the whole situation was strange. Something about it just didn’t add up.

Balian, however, answered without the slightest hesitation. "I only said that Mr. Reed and Captain Noctis don’t have clearance to enter the Blackstar Restricted Sector. I never said they couldn’t see it."

"Besides, this place will be open to the public sooner or later. So why not let the world see it starting now?" Balian said casually. "It’s not like there’s a weapon of mass destruction hidden in there, right?"

He explained everything so smoothly and confidently that Summer couldn’t tell whether he was telling the truth or simply making things up as he went along.

"Open to the public?" Summer repeated, her suspicion growing. "What’s actually inside that place?"

Balian smiled at her. "If you want to find out, you’ll have to go inside. Doesn’t that sound tempting, Miss Summer? I’m giving you the privilege of being the first person to broadcast that sector to the public, after all."

It was certainly tempting.

If she became the first person to do it, her stream would surely blow up, and she could earn far more money than she had made today.

"There are plenty of Guides in this world, so why me?" she asked. "It’s not like we have particularly high compatibility."

"Oh, but we do." Balian’s smile widened. "I’ve already checked. We have 97% compatibility. Isn’t that interesting? Our compatibility is one percent higher than that of these two gentlemen."

Summer was about to respond, but Archer beat her to it. "And how exactly did you check your compatibility with her, Mr. Devereaux? This is your first time meeting Miss Beaumont in person, after all."

"What other method would I use?" Balian chuckled. "Of course, I checked through the system. Our data is stored there, and as Elite Sentinels, we’re allowed to search for our matches."

Ilya let out a laugh. "Her data might not be accurate, though. The machine couldn’t scan her body properly, after all. I’m afraid the system might have given you the wrong result, Mr. Devereaux."

"Is that so?" Balian raised an eyebrow. "Then why don’t we check our compatibility right now?"

Before anyone could even ask her to do it, Summer had already opened her terminal and checked Balian’s profile.

[Identity: Balian Devereaux]

[Beast Form: Snow Leopard]

[Sentinel Rank: SS]

[Pollution Level: 24%]

[Status: Low Pollution]

[Warning: Guiding Not Required at This Time.]

[Calculating Compatibility with Sentinel Balian Devereaux...]

[Compatibility: 98%.]

Summer gasped when she saw the number. She even refreshed the data over and over again to make sure the system hadn’t malfunctioned.

"What’s the result, Miss Summer?" Balian asked with a smile.

His voice was gentle, yet somehow, it made both Ilya and Archer want to strangle him.

"Ninety-eight percent," Summer replied hesitantly. "That’s our compatibility."

The smile on Balian’s face grew even wider. "That’s incredible! Two percent higher than these two gentlemen!"

"How is that even possible?" Ilya asked in disbelief.

Even Summer had no idea how it could have happened. Could it have something to do with the fact that she had been captivated by his face?

Summer stared at the result on her terminal, suddenly wondering if being too easily charmed by a handsome man could actually affect her compatibility score.

No, that couldn’t be right. Could it?

Ilya clicked his tongue before speaking. "If you’ve known about your compatibility for a long time, is that why you suddenly defended Archer in front of the media? Were you planning to use that opportunity to get close to Summer?"

Balian raised an eyebrow. "Did I ever say that? Honestly, why are you all overthinking this? I defended him in front of the media simply because I wanted the public to take our side."

"I’m a Sentinel too, you know. Something like that could happen to me someday," he added with a shrug.

Summer tilted her head and shot back, "Didn’t you say your big, big money gave you more choices than most people?"

"That may be true," Balian replied patiently. "But without public support, there’s no guarantee that even my money will be enough to help me someday."

Summer and the two brothers exchanged glances in silence. They still seemed to have plenty of questions, but for some reason, none of them could think of anything else to ask.

After all, Balian had managed to answer every question with a reasonable explanation. If they kept pressing him, they would start to look like a bunch of people who couldn’t stop overthinking everything.

"So, what’s your answer, Miss Summer?" Balian asked. "I only need a Guide, not a mate. And our guiding sessions don’t have to be that... intimate. Just touching my skin is more than enough."

Summer recalled something from the original owner’s memories. Unlike other Sentinels, Balian had parents who developed a special serum to keep his pollution level under control.

She had no idea how the Serum worked, but it helped him avoid becoming dependent on a Guide just to keep his mind stable.

"I thought you didn’t need a Guide," Summer remarked.

"Perhaps I don’t," Balian replied. "But maybe things have changed now that I’ve found someone with such high compatibility with me."

He smiled at her again. "So, what’s your answer?"

Summer fell silent as she weighed her options.

To be honest, she had plenty of other ways to make money without accepting Balian’s suspicious offer.

She hadn’t even asked Ilya to pay her for their last guiding session. And if she wanted to earn more from streaming, she could simply bring one of her mates into a polluted zone and give people a good reason to tune in.

That would be much easier than getting involved with Balian Devereaux.

So why was she still hesitating?